Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Government either has a serious commitment to rural Ireland and the islands, or it does not. It is right that I have been hearing about this issue day and night since I returned to the Seanad. Something happened in the general election this year because rural Ireland felt it had been forgotten about. Ireland does not stop at the Red Cow roundabout. It has so much to offer.

Although I reiterate my point that €48 million seems to have been a substantial amount of money in 2007, I take the point made by Deputy Ó Cuív and Mr. Kelly that significant costs were associated with building this facility. There cannot be a tax on the islanders. I wonder about the possibility of cross-fertilisation or cross-subsidisation with regard to the extra moneys that islanders coming off Inis Mór have to pay.

I would like someone to answer a question I asked earlier. Why did the State company stop providing this service four years ago? If it had not done so, the islanders and others would not have been in the High Court or the Supreme Court.